Last Friday, 19 Goshen students and three faculty members attended the North Park University Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Chicago, Ill, in coordination with the Multicultural Affairs Office.
Students from various colleges around the country joined GC students in participating in leadership development and diversity awareness training.
Keynote speaker Corey Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago and founder of Project H.O.O.D., began the conference by sharing leadership advice from his experience starting a nonprofit organization on the south side of Chicago to intervene in teenage gang activity.
Students attended various workshops in the afternoon that covered topics of racism, discrimination, campus ethnic leadership and conflict resolution. Workshops were led by North Park University professors and faculty as well as community leaders from Chicago and other parts of the country.
“My main take-away was the importance of effective leadership,” said Isaac Hernandez, a senior who attended the conference.
Hernandez said he explored topics of leadership as a communal process and how communication can be used to understand and accommodate differences between individuals.
Aradhana Roberts, a junior, also attended the conference. She said she learned about what it means to be an everyday leader on a campus outside of her home country of India.
“It’s about diversity and leadership,” she said. “That’s the position you’re put in during college.”
